OT to audio, but tangential to what we all care about: enjoy the music which requires hearing. Like many here, I grew up with plenty of fireworks, loud concerts, firearms, stereo turned to an 11, etc. While directed toward military populations, a paper I co authored examines magnesium as being highly protective of hearing due to various insults. As Mag deficiencies run approx 80% of the population, and there's a long list of benefits, it behooves we audiophiles to get adequate Mag, and possibly anti oxidant. From the paper:
"Multiple studies have found oral magnesium as an efficacious treatment for the prevention of hearing loss secondary to impulse noise. Even before testing in humans, data in animal models, such as guinea pigs, identified direct correlations between decreased serum magnesium levels and harmful noise-induced permanent hearing threshold shifts4 with subsequent evaluations finding similar associations in humans. A placebo-controlled, double-blind study analyzing 300 healthy military recruits undergoing basic training with multiple exposures to impulse noises compared two groups - one receiving 167mg magnesium aspartate orally and the other with placebo daily – with results showing a significant preservation of baseline hearing in the magnesium cohort when compared to the placebo control5. An additional well-performed study confirmed these results demonstrating the protective nature of magnesium for hearing loss secondary to exposure to high impulse noise6. Though it is preferable to have magnesium prior to any exposure, there is evidence that post-exposure oral magnesium supplementation still offers hearing protection with a therapeutic effect inversely proportional to the length of time elapsed between the exposure and the start of treatment7. Its efficacy may be further improved in the presence of other antioxidants – specifically vitamins A, C, and E. These compounds, all of which are commonly found in standard multivitamin tablets, have shown to augment the efficacy of magnesium and its ability to protect against hearing loss3."
Source:
Military-specific application of nutritional supplements: a brief overview
https://f1000research.com/articles/4-61/v1
Also, just published, Some additional support for the paper I co authored linked in the OP:
Oral Antioxidant Vitamins and Magnesium Limit Noise-induced Hearing Loss by Promoting Sensory Hair Cell Survival: Role of Antioxidant Enzymes and Apoptosis Genes
Abstract
Noise induces oxidative stress in the cochlea followed by sensory cell death and hearing loss. The proof of principle that injections of antioxidant vitamins and Mg2+ prevent noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) has been established. However, effectiveness of oral administration remains controversial and otoprotection mechanisms unclear.
Using auditory evoked potentials, quantitative PCR and immunocytochemistry, we explored effects of oral administration of vitamins A, C, E and Mg2+ (ACEMg) on auditory function and sensory cell survival following NIHL in rats. Oral ACEMg reduced auditory thresholds shifts after NIHL. Improved auditory function correlated with increased survival of sensory outer hair cells. In parallel, oral ACEMg modulated the expression timeline of antioxidant enzymes in the cochlea after NIHL. There was increased expression of Glutathione peroxidase-1 and Catalase at 1 and 10 days, respectively. Also, pro-apoptotic Caspase-3 and Bax levels were diminished in ACEMg-treated rats, at 10 and 30 days, respectively, following noise overstimulation, whereas, at day 10 after noise exposure, the levels of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2, were significantly increased.
Therefore, oral ACEMg improves auditory function by limiting sensory hair cell death in the auditory receptor following NIHL. Regulation of the expression of antioxidant enzymes and apoptosis-related proteins in cochlear structures is involved in such otoprotective mechanism.
Noise induces oxidative stress in the cochlea followed by sensory cell death and hearing loss. The proof of principle that injections of antioxidant vitamins and Mg2+ prevent noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) has been established. However, effectiveness of oral administration remains...
www.preprints.org
